Josh Billions demonstrates the Mapbag at Maker Faire Bay Area 2011. It is a bicycle messenger bag with a ring of vibrating motors sewn into its strap, whose positions correspond to compass points. This soft circuit project uses a LilyPad Arduino in conjunction with the GPS feature in an iPhone, allowing the user to set a destination and be given constant haptic feedback through the fabric in order to stay on course. Mapbag acts as an exploratory wayfinding tool – a fun and useful alternative to a standard turn-by-turn map.

Becky Stern (sternlab.org is a DIY guru and director of wearable electronics at Adafruit. She publishes a new project video every week and hosts a live show on YouTube. Formerly Becky was Senior Video Producer for MAKE. Becky lives in Brooklyn, NY and belongs to art groups Free Art & Technology (“release early, often, and with rap music”) and Madagascar Institute (“fear is never boring”).